Ocado declared its first quarterly profit today, making £300,000 in the final quarter of 2010.

The quarterly profit did not stop the company falling to a £12.2m pre-tax loss for the year to 28 November 2010. Revenues for the year rose by over a quarter to £516m.

Ocado's shares rose 8% to 235p this morning on the back of the morning's announcements, the first time it has reported full-year numbers as a public company.

The online delivery specialist has seen its shares surge in recent weeks after a disappointing start on the market, since floating at 180p. Speculation about a possible bid from Morrisons, talk of a US investor building a stake and a "short squeeze", whereby investors betting the stock will fall find themselves with mounting losses as the price rises, have all pushed the share price up, but the company's long-term investors may be more pleased to see some concrete indication that Ocado can make money.

Ocado highlighted a series of different profit numbers this morning to explain its financial position.

Besides its £12.2m pre-tax loss, it also highlighted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) – which showed underlying profits were £22m for the year, effectively excluding the costs of replacing vehicles and other machinery, and the fees incurred during last summer's flotation. It also pointed to its adjusted pre-tax loss figure being £8.7m – taking out just the £3.5m cost of the IPO.

Whichever figure investors look at, there was some evidence of an improving position. Last year's pre-tax losses were £25m, while the EBITDA in 2009 was £9.2m. Revenues in 2009 were £402m.

Ocado said its average order size in 2010 fell slightly, to £114 from £115 the previous year. Its average orders per week were up 31% to 92,916.

Chief executive Tim Steiner said: "This was a landmark year for Ocado with gross sales up 29% for the year; we have delivered on the targets set out at the flotation. We have continued our focus on improving the customer offer, which has led to a record number of customers and sales with the achievement of profitability in the final quarter. Ocado's growth continues to outpace the market."

Neil Saunders of Verdict said: "One quarter of profit does not necessarily show that the company is on a firm trajectory to continued profit growth. There are a whole host of downside risks this year including a more frugal consumer trading away from some of the more expensive goods Ocado sells, Waitrose Deliver moving into Ocado's core London market and the increased costs of delivery through higher oil and fuel prices. While Ocado's customer proposition is in excellent shape, the financials of the company are sensitive to all of these shifts which could provide disruptive to continued profit growth."